


The Will

by Silence_Will_Fall201



Series: Aftermath [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Everybody loves Morgan, Feels, I torture characters, Juice pops, Morgan Stark makes everything better, Peter's probably depressed, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad, Tony Stark's will, but he's okay, possible trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 17:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19067566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silence_Will_Fall201/pseuds/Silence_Will_Fall201
Summary: It's Tony Stark's will reading and Peter's not even sure why he's included. He died, he wasn't legally able to be put on a will, but somehow he was.He's not doing too good, but leave it to Morgan Stark to make everything better (At least for a little while).But first, juice pops.





	The Will

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even known what juice pops are. I'm just sort of assuming they're frozen juice things like ice-blocks.

Peter was determined not to look away from the wall. If he did, he'd cry and he didn't want to cry. Not in front of May, not in front of Pepper, and definitely not in front of Morgan. The executor was reading Tony Stark's last words Peter would likely ever hear, yet he couldn't bring himself to listen. He couldn't bring himself to listen to those words that should be coming from the mouth of his mentor. So he simply stared at a wall, May's hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. By some mircale - of legal loopholes and bribery as Pepper told him - Peter was included in the will. Tony had redone it once Morgan was born, and had insisted on including Peter. Peter didn't know why.

In his peripheral, he saw Morgan shift on Pepper's knee with a frown, clearly bored. Harley leant over and handed her his phone to play with, earning an appreciative nod before the girl was engrossed in the game she had loaded up. Peter loved Morgan. She was all blunt words, sharp wit and childhood innocence. Tony Stark, the man with demons knocking on his door nightly and trauma to span a lifetime, created such a beautiful, innocent child and Peter was both amazed and not surprised. Tony was a good dad, he figured at least - it wasn't like he ever saw him in action. He remembered being around Morgan's age when he lost his own parents. No child should ever have to go through that, especially not when they're so young.

Peter just remembered when he was only a little older than Morgan. He had dragged May and Ben to the Stark Expo, so excited to see all the technology and most of all - his hero. He remembered facing up to a Hammertech drone with more bravery - or stupidity - than he had in the last few months, and when he was about to be killed, Tony Stark saved him. He always loved Tony Stark. Iron Man was just the bonus. It was both the most exciting and the most daunting time of his life when Tony showed up at his and May's apartment. From that day onwards, it was Tony and Peter, mentor and intern, Iron Man and Spider-Man.

"To Peter Parker." His name being spoken drew Peter back into reality and he finally looked to the executor. "I leave a portion of my fortune, two million dollars, to be held until he is eighteen years of age." Peter's lips parted and his eyes grew wide as the reality of the words hit him. He sat, frozen in his chair, May's hand stiff on his shoulder as she too was in shock. He didn't think he'd get much, maybe a secured position at the company but nothing like money. He heard that Morgan and Pepper got the most - obviously - and Rhodey, Happy and Harley all got a portion, but he didn't expect to included."I also leave my personal laboratory in the New York HQ of Stark Industries and the option open for Peter to take over Stark Industries if he so chooses, to be considered once he is eighteen years old." Peter had heard the same thing in Morgan's side of the will, but never expected him to have the option, or the opportunity.

Pepper knew of it the moment Tony wanted to do it. Tony wanted to give Morgan the chance to follow in his footsteps or forge her own path, instead of having Stark Industries bestowed upon her like a birthright the way Howard had done. He wanted to give Morgan the choice. To add the same section to Peter's part was easy. Tony had originally wanted to make Peter the heir years before Morgan was born. He didn't think he was going to get the chance to have kids, so he was going to leave Stark Industries to Peter as the son he always wanted. Pepper approved regardless. She loved Peter. She hadn't spent enough time with him to know him as well as Tony, but it was hard not to love the kid.

"You're kidding, right?" Peter said before he could think better of it. The executor gave him a look before disregarding the comment and continuing.

Peter decided to tune the rest out, only perking up when he heard that Tony had left him one of his cars. He didn't need to pay too much attention to the rest of the reading as it was finalising the final details of what Tony had left behind. Peter decided to focus on the wall again, his posture stiff and his expression uncertain. He was thinking about what he would do with two million dollars - at this point he had no clue but the first thought in his head was 'Buy May a nicer place to live' - and he was already thinking about whether or not he was even going to entertain the idea of owning Stark Industries.

When the reading was over, the group filtered out into the hallway. Down the hall, a man was explaining a convoluted plan to his colleage, his words filling up Peter's sensitive hearing. He didn't know why he was focussing on it, but when he heard the man snap his fingers as he was explaining his plan, he went still. Pepper, May and the rest of the group noticed that Peter had gone pale and had stopped to see if he was okay. Peter, however, was stuck in his own head. The snap of that man's fingers was echoing through his head and it was all he could think about.

The world seemed to close in on Peter and his eyes were barely seeing what was in front of him. He dropped to the floor and his breathing became fast and shallow. His vision blurred and his heart pounded in his chest. He felt tears streaming down his face but he couldn't bring himself to care. He couldn't move, it was like his muscles had turned to concrete and his eyes were shut tightly. He couldn't get that sound out of his head. That  _snap_. He couldn't think, couldn't breath and he couldn't even function because of a simple thing someone did  _down the hall_.

_I wanted you to be better._

There was no-one better. Certainly not Peter.

He couldn't get the image out of his mind. The image of his mentor's glassy eyes and parted lips as if to tell him something that would never come out. The image of his burnt and unresponsive face was seared into Peter's mind forever. He had lost another person he looked up to,  _idolised_ _,_ right in front of him (again!), and he wished he could have done something about it. He wished he had taken the stones. His suit was made of the same nano-tech, he could have dome  _something_.

_Even if it killed him._

He felt comforting hands on his side and suddenly he was embraced. It was warm and soft (Nothing like the hard metal of  _that_ hug - The  _last_ hug. The  _first_ \- death and embarrassment not included). He felt himself cry and heard the sobbing before he even realised it was him. He didn't like it when he cried in front of May, because it always made her cry, but somehow this time was different. She was holding him. That's all she was doing, but it slowly got Peter to calm himself, get himself out of the panic attack.

Yeah, he wasn't okay.

"Is Peter okay?" Morgan's voice sliced through the darkness in Peter's mind. He slowly raised his head to look at the puzzled expression on the little girl's face.

"He will be." Was Harley's answer.

Peter managed to look at Pepper, who's eyes were red and puffy, tears flowing easily down her own cheeks. She looked at him sadly, though seemingly unsure as to what set him off. Peter then looked to May, who knew all too well the effects of Peter's panic attacks. It had taken him months to not panic at the sound of a gunshot after Ben, and even then he still went out as Spider-Man.

_Was he really so pathetic that he was sent into a meltdown at the sound of a snap?_

"I'm sorry." Peter apologised quickly, his voice small.

"Don't." May spoke softly and helped Peter into a sitting position. "What set you off, hon?" She whispered gently.

"The-the man. Down the hall." Peter tried to force the words out. "He-he sn-snapped." He stuttered, feeling his heartrate rising at the mere word. Pepper's expression softened even more. She looked up at May.

"He was there." Was all she said for May to get the picture. Pepper put her own arm around Peter. "You'll be okay, Pete." She muttered.

"No." He shook his head. "I just...I should have done something." He grunted in frustration.

"There's nothing you could have done. Once Tony made his mind up, there was no going back." Pepper tried to help, but Peter frowned.

"I could have done it." He said in barely a whisper. It strained even Pepper and May - who were both right next to him - to hear the words.

"You would have died." Pepper replied.

"So what?"

A pin could drop and it'd sound like an orchestra in the silence those words created. May's blood ran cold and she set her jaw so tight she felt like it would fall off if she tensed it any harder. Pepper had frozen, mind racing at the thought of a kid - only sixteen years old - who was willing to go back and kill himself just to save his mentor. Happy felt like he'd been down the same road before. He was with Tony through thick and thin, and it was in that moment that he realised he needed to do the same for Peter. Rhodey barely knew Peter, but in that instant he saw a kid just trying to deal with things even an adult had trouble with, and Harley had incredible respect and even admiration for Peter in that moment. Morgan just wanted food.

"Don't." May's voice was hoarse and sad, her eyes hardening as she stared at Peter. "Don't you dare say something like that ever again." Her tone was firm and Peter couldn't help but flinch. "You are worth so much, to me, to all of us. If you ever say something like that again I will tie you to a chair and make you listen to loops of people telling you that  _you are worth it_." She pointed a finger to Peter's chest and tears began to fall down her own cheeks. 

"Tony wanted everyone to come back, yes, but it was you who motivated him." Pepper spoke quietly, not sure if she should say it or not. "He saw your picture, one of you both that he kept in the kitchen on display - right next to Howard - and he had a change of heart." She looked Peter in the eyes, both of them crying but the boy never saying a word as she spoke. "He told Steve a firm 'no', but he saw that picture and decided to at least try." She let out a sad laugh. "Turns out he invented time travel."

"He shouldn't have done that. Not for me." Peter said rapidly.

" _You are worth it_." May repeated, her voice carrying emphasis on every word. "Don't you  _dare_ say otherwise."

"I'm hungry." Morgan's voice cut through the tension and the group found themselves softening immediately. The tension wasn't gone, but was overwhelmed with each and every person in that hallway's love for Morgan H. Stark.

"I think we should continue this somewhere else." Pepper decided, standing. She wiped her eyes with her hand and took Morgan's outstretched hand in preparation to leave.

"Our apartment's close." May offered, helping Peter in standing.

"That would be great, thanks, May. I don't think I could have survived a drive upstate with her when she's hungry." Pepper laughed.

 

* * *

 

 

The Parker household was small. After them both being dead for five years, May and Peter's old apartment had been repossesed and rented off to new tenants. To say it was quite a shock when May appareared from thin air was an understatement. The couple that inhabited what used to be the Parker apartment had screamed and sent May out violently. They threatened her with a broom! Of all things, a broom! May didn't even get a chance to explain. She did, however, get a hug from the landlord with an apology about the apartment, but he did give her the name of one of his friends who would be able to get May and Peter a new apartment quickly. So she contacted the man who evenetually became their new landlord, and moved into the apartment, getting their stuff moved from the storage locker.

Peter's room was around half the size of his prior one, being longer than it was wide, and barely even fit his desk in one corner. May's room was slightly larger, but still didn't live up to their old apartment. It was the only place they could afford in such short notice, though, and they took it gratefully. May was beginning to make it feel right - like home - but to Peter it wasn't. So much had changed in what felt like hours to Peter. The world had moved on, and then suddenly every victim of The Decimation returned and everything had changed. Younger siblings were now older, best friends were now in college, parents were gone and buried and there wasn't room in the world for the three and a half billion people who returned.

The apartment, it didn't feel like hom. It was cramped, the electricity was barely working on most days, the hot water didn't work correctly and the heating system was thirty years old. The window in his bedroom got stuck every time he tried to open it, and the freezer seemed to not do what it was designed to do correctly. Peter once offered to take a look at it for May, but she had insisted it was okay. He had it on his to-do list regardless. It was getting ridiculous.

"Thanks for letting up have a rest before we head back." Pepper smiled at May as she sat Morgan down on the couch next to her. Happy sat on the opposite side of Morgan and Rhodey leant on the edge of the couch. Harley was sitting at the dining table engrossed in texting.

Peter was staring out the window and at Manhattan just across the water from Queens. He found himself staring at the skyscraprs and his mind instantly wondered to how it felt to swing between them. He hadn't put the suit on since  _everything_ , and he wasn't planning on doing so any time soon, but he couldn't help but miss swing around the city. He missed the addrenaline rush of free falling off the tallest building, only to shoot a web late enough that he was swinging so close to the grount that he could touch the cars. He missed doing tricks in the air when it felt like he was flying. He missed how exhilarating it was to use his momentum to push himself up high enough to scare birds. He missed how it felt to love being alone.

"You look like you need a juice pop." Morgan's voice brought Peter back to reality and he looked down at her. Those brown eyes stared up at him expectantly, and  _God_ she looked just like Tony in that moment. From her expressions right down to her personality, Morgan was every bit a Stark, with just the right amount of Potts in there to balance it. Peter furrowed his brows and crouched down next to Morgan so he was eye-level with her.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Daddy always said juice pops make everything better." Morgan said proudly. Peter's heart ached at the mention of Tony.

"I'll-uh-see if we have any." Peter stood straight and he walked over to the freezer, part of him hoping that it actually worked in that moment.

He didn't even really think when he picked Morgan up once he saw the juice pops in the freezer (They tended to keep them around when Peter had to babysit). He hoisted her up so she could easily reach into the freezer and he let her choose the flavours for both of them. She happily pulled out a red one for herself and handed Peter a yellow one.

Ever the Stark. Red and Gold.

He set Morgan down and she violently tore open the packaging and happily began eating it. She was fast and had nearly fininshed when Peter had taken his first bite. He had sensitive teeth and so biting cold treats wasn't entirely the best experience for him. When Morgan did finish, she gave him a patented Stark look that Tony always gave him, and he decided to speed up the process. Once he finished, Morgan grinned at him.

"Make everything better." She gave herself a confident nod.

"Yeah, Morgie, they make everything better." Peter smiled his first genuine smile in a while, and Morgan, though young, knew it was a good sign.

"Why are you sad?" She asked eventually. She didn't like it when her family was sad.

"I-uh-I miss your dad." Peter told her softly.

" _Our_ dad." Morgan stated forcefully.

"I'm not-" Peter went to correct her, but Morgan interrupted him.

" _Our_ dad." She repeated. "You're my big brother, so it's  _our_ dad."

"Oh." Was all Peter could say. "Thank you." Peter managed to say.

"Daddy wouldn't want you to be sad." She told him. "He told me you were brave and so happy. He wouldn't like to see you sad."

"He...told you about me?" Peter asked. He knew Morgan knew of him, he just didn' know to what extent.

"I love Spidey stories before bed." Morgan grinned.

In that instant, Peter knew he would be okay. It would take a while, longer than he ever had to wait to get better for anything, but he knew he'd be okay. If he didn't want to get better for himself, he knew he had to get better for Morgan. Her innocence and happiness even though she had lost her father only a few months prior told Peter he would be okay. It told him he could  _live_ and be okay. He had a family. To him, family wasn't blood, it was connection and an unbreakable bond. 

He was going to be okay.

In time.


End file.
